Director Alfonso Cuarón, prior to last year, had largely operated under the Hollywood radar. The director had helmed "The Little Princess" and a remake of "Great Expectations", two films that offered remarkably beautiful imagery and fine performances, but never quite connected with audiences. This year, Cuaron stepped away from Hollywood and made the Spanish-language "Y Tu Mama Tambien", a film that made a splash with its sexual content and was carried by strong buzz and word-of-mouth from audiences whose demographics extended far beyond the late-teen/20's audience that distributor IFC films likely expected.

The picture revolves around Julio (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna), who have just graduated from high school. The two are funny and foul-mouthed, with their main concerns being either getting high or getting with their girlfriends. When said girlfriends leave for Europe for the Summer, the boys find that half of their plans are now missing. Lacking much ambition and quickly gaining much in the way of boredom, the two spy Luisa (Maribel Verdú), a beautiful older woman who is getting married to Tenoch's cousin. The two try and talk to her and invite her to go off with them, but find that she's got other plans. When she finds that her husband has not been faithful, she suddently accepts the duo's offer to head off on a road trip.

This results in talk...and talk...and talk between the three. Talk about sex, about love, about life. But it's not too long before the two start to compete for the love of Luisa, turning the former friends against one another before they start to realize some lessons about life from Luisa herself. Interestingly enough - and a factor that plays a big part - are the people and places that the three see during their drive. While the majority of the film is about the three characters, there's a real sense of place, culture and changing climate as the film presents various areas of Mexico. Occasional narration also tells more about the situation in the country and other aspects. While as much narration as there is here is usually frowned upon, it worked for the movie. I especially liked how the audio for the film turned silent while the narration came on. One saddening moment has the narrator discussing how a fisherman the three meet will eventually be put out of business by the combination of the tourism board and a soon-to-be-built hotel, forcing him to leave his little slice of paradise.

The performances and dialogue also make for considerably more than just another teen sex comedy. The two leads portrayed both the raunchy side of the characters and the the more serious second-half scenes very well. Verdú's performance, as the older woman who begins to teach the two about life and themelves, is also outstanding. And, while the dialogue is raunchy and filled with curse words, the lines are often very funny and a bit more realistic than the one-liners that fill most movies of this genre.

While "Y Tu Mama Tambien" didn't seem to start off with a whole lot of potential, the film gradually reveals unexpected layers to the story and characters. Cuaron also offers a nice mix of joyful moments, heart and occasional drama. It's shot beautifully by ace cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who manages to both bring us into the middle of the conversations while skillfully portraying the fascinating landscape. The film's insights are occasionally not particularly insightful, but "Y Tu Mama Tambien" is clearly a stronger piece than the kind of teen films that have been cranked out by Hollywood in the past few years. It starts off as silly and raunchy, but quickly starts becoming something more substancial, unpredictable, fresh and entertaining.

Note: This DVD edition offers the Unrated version of the film, which runs 105 minutes. Given that the film was UR in theaters, I'm guessing this is the theatrical version. There is also an R-rated DVD release, as well.